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Like all years, 2018 had its share of high and low points, though at times the low points, like the massacre at Parkland High School and other mass shootings, natural disasters and the political antics in Washington, seemed to reach depressing depths, while the highs, if you can remember them, never seemed to make up for the lows.

In the last 12 months, Central Jersey managed to avoid the flak from the national events. There were no major disasters like Sandy, no prominent #MeToo scandals and no senseless acts of mass violence.

The major stories in Central Jersey in 2018 reflected what residents care about in their everyday lives — new construction and businesses in their hometowns, the impact of the opioid epidemic while waiting to see if marijuana will be legalized, scintillating crime stories, disturbing sex scandals and how the stormy national political climate affected local government.

But somehow we made it and this week we will rewarding ourselves with a glass of champagne and toasting the new year in the hopes that 2019's highs will be greater than the lows.

Here were the five biggest storylines of 2018 in Central Jersey, in no particular order.

Drugs

The last 12 months saw a dramatic shift in New Jersey’s view on certain illegal substances. This year we saw many crime stories and tragic tales related to the opiod crisis, which is still dragging on with no end sight, but, at the same time, we saw the New Jersey Legislature change its tone on marijuana. In January, Gov. Phil Murphy, who supported marijuana legalization during his campaign, was sworn into office, bringing with him a new attitude towards the drug.

The New Jersey Legislature changed its tone on marijuana.(Photo: Getty Images)

Murphy wanted to legalize marijuana for recreational use within his first 100 days, but when that plan did not pan out, he adjusted sights on the end of October 2018. With the tax rate being the biggest disagreement between lawmakers and the governor (Senate President Steve Sweeney suggested a 12 percent tax rate for the state and up to 2 percent for municipalities and Murphy is said to want a 25 percent rate), the October deadline was not met and lawmakers are now hopeful they can come to an agreement and pass a bill in 2019. Talk of legalization has somewhat lessened the stigma surrounding marijuana, with the state Attorney General’s Office issuing a directive during the summer to localities to not prosecute any marijuana cases. There were, however, several Central Jersey towns that have moved to ban recreational marijuana sales ahead of the drug's legalization.

Meanwhile, the opioid crisis rages on. In 2018, Ronald Rebernik, of Raritan Borough, admitted to fatally striking a 1-year-old boy while he was under the influence of opioids. We also saw Andrew Stoveken, of Edison, who operated a hearing aid company in Warren Township, sentenced to state prison for conspiring with a doctor to supply a drug ring with tens of thousands of high-dose pills of the highly addictive opioid painkiller oxycodone. In that same vein, Eddie Gamao, a Piscataway doctor, had his medical license revoked after authorities learned he had prescribed more than 150,000 OxyContin pills in one year. Alicia Balaban, of Florida, along with her mother, Michele Call, 63, of East Amwell, Nelida Rios, 55, of Raritan Township, and Marie DeJulia, 42, of Lodi, pleaded guilty to charges related to an oxycodone ring in Hunterdon County. These stories were just the most extreme. Sadly, in 2018, we saw opioids seep into crime stories on a near weekly basis.

Lenny Dykstra(Photo: ~Courtesy of Linden Police Department)

Crime, as always

We’ve all heard that crime stories sell, and they do. People want to know what is happening in their neighborhoods and keep their families safe. With that said, the My Central Jersey newsroom team reported on a plethora of crime stories in 2018. Some of the more prominent stories were the cases of: Ronald Rebernik, the Raritan Borough man who admitted to running over a toddler on his first birthday; Lenny Dykstra, the former MLB star who was charged with threatening an Uber driver and possessing drugs; and the Piscataway men who were charged in connection to the drag racing death of a New Brunswick vice principal.

Rebernik was driving his 2004 Ford Escape southbound on Anderson Street in Raritan Borough July 7 when he crossed to the northbound side, struck two parked vehicles, left the roadway and continued southbound on the sidewalk, where he then struck three pedestrians. It later became clear through an Open Public Records Request by My Central Jersey that Rebernik was arrested in Raritan Borough earlier the same day of the accident, charged with drug possession and released hours before the incident. Matias Ortega was killed on his first birth, his 5-year-old brother suffered from a fractured skull and his mother’s liver was lacerated.

Dykstra, the former All-Star Major League Baseball, brandished a bag and allegedly put it to the back of his Uber driver's head before yelling "I'll (expletive) shoot you," according to police reports obtained by My Central Jersey. He was arrested outside Linden Police Headquarters just before 3:30 a.m. on May 23 when police officers were alerted to a vehicle that sped into the attached parking garage. His case, stemming from Central Jersey where he now lives, has garnered international attention. It will continue through court in 2019, as well, as Dykstra declined to accept a plea agreement offered by prosecutors.

Two Piscataway men’s alleged drag race resulted in the fatal striking of a beloved New Brunswick principal. Freddy S. Garcia Jr. was charged with aggravated manslaughter, a first-degree crime after New Brunswick High School vice principal Tyrone Harrison was ran over and killed. Sohjah Powell-Warner, the administrator of both the "78 Imports" Facebook page and Instagram account, was arrested and charged with two counts of hindering law enforcement.

Vito Nigro, of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty in early December to killing his ex-wife and co-worker three years ago; he's facing a prison sentence of 27 years.

And we would be remiss if we did not mention some misbehaving police officers, from the Edison cops being charged in an overtime billing scheme and the Mountainside police officers alleged to have hit other officers being hit over the head with an artificial penis, but that’s a story for another time.

Building excitement

Ten years after the Great Recession brought home and commercial construction to a standstill in Central Jersey and the rest of the country, development came roaring back in 2018 with apartment buildings and affordable housing leading the charge.

While construction of single-family homes continues at a slow pace, the trend of building apartment complexes picked up steam in 2018, with the focus on construction in older towns on rail lines leading into New York City and suburban towns needing to fulfill their affordable housing quotas.

The reasons for the boom in apartment construction has its roots in 2008’s financial meltdown.

The days are gone when, at the height of the home-buying spree in the first decade of the century, you could buy a house with little money down. Banks, who learned the painful lesson of the dangers of giving subprime mortgages,are now demanding 20 percent down payments before approving a loan.

Building a nest egg that size is not easy, especially if you’re a millennial burdened with piles of college debt.

Besides the financial squeeze, millennials do not have the same hankering for the suburban lifestyle their Baby Boomer parents had. Millennials prefer an urban lifestyle where they have amenities, such as restaurants, gyms and mass transit within simple walking or bicycling distance. They prefer the urban amenities, but with a small-town vibe, a Hallmark movie in high-def.

The Cobalt in Somerville.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Tim DeLuccia)

The new apartments are also attracting interest from Baby Boomers who no longer have children at home but do not want the hassles (property taxes, maintenance like lawn mowing and snow removal) that do not add to the rewards of home ownership.

Even a small town like Helmetta experienced the apartment boom with the opening of the high-end developments, The Lofts and The Mills.

Older commuter towns along NJ Transit's rail lines are also seeing their long-awaited revitalization sparked by apartments being built in downtown area that needed an economic boost. Somerville, Bound Brook and Metuchen are enjoying a fresh energy as new residents are moving in, attracted by the reasonable rents (by New York and Jersey City standards) and easy commute to the city.

In Somerville, plans for a transit village were approved around the train station, along with proposals for three other apartment complexes, two of which will take the place of abandoned industrial properties. The historic Bound Brook Hotel is making way for an apartment building, while construction on other projects has begun on West Main Street. An apartment complex is planned around a future train station in North Brunswick while Plainfield has green-lighted more apartments.

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The former Bowcraft Amusement Park.(Photo: Mike Deak/staff photo)

The need for towns to avoid convoluted and expensive litigation — which they were likely to lose anyway — prompted suburban towns to approve apartment projects. Towns along the Route 78 corridor like Bernards, Warren and Watchung will be seeing hundreds of apartments to meet their court-mandated affordable housing quotas. Hundreds more apartments have been approved in Hillsborough and Montgomery.

Sites that you wouldn’t ordinarily think would suited for apartments are being developed. Apartments have been approved at the site of the beloved Bowcraft amusement park on Route 22 in Scotch Plains. The vacant Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield is being demolished to make way for apartments.

In Flemington, plans for the demolition of the Union Hotel for a mixed-used development with 200 apartments were approved, though the project remains in doubt because of pending litigation and a change in political control.

Who said that people want to move out of New Jersey?

Political blues

In Central Jersey, the "blue wave" of Democrats winning election in November became, in some areas, a blue tsunami.

For the first time since people were debating whether to buy a VHS or Beta home video recorder in the early 1980s, two Democrats were elected to the Somerset County freeholder board.

Riding the wave of opposition to Somerset County landowner and occasional Bedminster resident President Donald Trump, Democrats Shanel Robinson and Sara Sooy won two seats on the Somerset County Freeholder Board, defeating Republican incumbents Patrick Scaglione and Mark Caliguire. In 2017 Steve Peter broke the GOP stranglehold on county elected office by defeating incumbent Republican Brett Radi for county clerk.

With Democrats now outnumbering Republicans in Somerset County, Democrats have a chance to gain control of the five-member freeholder board this year when only on seat, occupied by Republican Patricia Walsh, is open for re-election. The Democrats will have a better opportunity in 2020, a presidential election year, when two freeholder seats are up for grabs.

"The next time there is a blue wave, I'll get a bigger surfboard," Somerset County Chairman Al Gaburo said.

The blue wave also swept Republican Leonard Lance out of office after five terms. Lance, who tried to move to the center of the political spectrum and became a frequent guest on MSNBC, was defeated by Rocky Hill resident Tom Malinowski, a former State Department official.

Malinowski's 147,063-to-137,318 victory was part of the blue wave in New Jersey that also saw Democrats Mikie Sherrill in the 11th District and Jeff Van Drew in the 2nd District win formerly Republican strongholds. Nationally the Democrats won a majority in the House of Representatives. Only Republican incumbent Chris Smith in the 4th District beat his Democratic challenger.

In Somerset County, Democrats were also successful in local races in the county, with Democrats elected mayor in Somerville, Watchung and Rocky Hill. Democrats also captured a borough council seat in Peapack-Gladstone for the first time in recent memory and a Democrat broke the GOP monopoly on the Hillsborough Township Committee.

Even in Peapack-Gladstone, voters rejected the incumbent Republican mayor and elected an independent, former police chief Greg Skinner.

In Union and Middlesex counties, voters stayed true blue and Democrat still have unanimous control over the respective freeholder boards. Incumbent Democratic mayors won in New Brunswick, Carteret and South Amboy while the Republican incumbent held onto his mayoral seat in South Plainfield.

In Flemington, with the issue of the Union Hotel redevelopment the overriding issue, GOP incumbent Phil Greiner, a strong advocate of the project, was defeated by Democratic challenger Betsy Driver, who has expressed doubts about the project. With Democrats ousting the two Republican incumbents, the future of the project is now in doubt.

Religious sex abuse

There were many major stories that broke nationwide in the year of 2018 and trickled down to Central Jersey from the #MeToo movement to school shootings and security stories. Perhaps the most impactful national story that made its way into Central Jersey was news of religious leaders being implicated in sexual abuse scandals. In August, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report naming more than 300 priest accused of child abuse. A few weeks earlier, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who previously served as the spiritual leader of the Metuchen and Newark dioceses, resigned after he was marred in several allegations of sexual abuse dating back decades.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP)

The local connection was further developed when Susan Bisaha, a psychotherapist, came forward to My Central Jersey to share her powerful story of her sexual claims against Rev. Mark Dolak. Dolak was a priest who was moved around several parishes in the Diocese of Metuchen who Bisaha says abused her for years when she was a teenager, all while McCarrick served as bishop and, for a little while, lived at the same residence as Dolak. Our team tracked down Dolak, who now works as an acute family support specialist for Monmouth Medical Center, and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents for this exclusive story. The year 2018 also saw Rev. Patrick Kuffner, the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Virgin Parish, be accused of sexual abuse by three people who said they were abused more than 30 years ago as minors.

Although the lion’s share of the religious leaders accused of sexual scandal tend to be Catholic, other religions had leaders accused of wrongdoing in 2018, too. We saw this when the East Brunswick Aryeh Goodman, who previously served time for touching a boy, was charged with having sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl and then was later charged with human trafficking and prostitution offenses. These stories are important because faith leaders play important roles in our communities with vested public trust. Although only a minority are accused of such acts, it is imperative we keep tabs on the ones who are.

Other big storylines

Parkland, Florida school shooting: On Feb. 14, a former student walked into Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and allegedly killed 14 students and three teachers. Over the next few months, the nation, including students in Central Jersey, would mourn the Parkland victims and join survivors in leading a push for gun control measures. Students around Central Jersey took part in a national day of action in March to draw attention to the issue, and one gained national attention because of her school's reaction and subsequent delivery of thousands of roses.

Unlawful cops: This past year also saw its fair share of misbehaving police officers. In Edison, Officer Robert Bertucci, a patrolman since 2014, was suspended with pay after following his DUI charge on Dec. 21 after his vehicle allegedly rear-ended another carwhile offduty. Earlier in December, Edison Police Officer Nicholas Lunetta charged with witness tampering and evidence obstruction after he allegedly tampered with and destroyed evidence that he believed would be included in a pending official proceeding or investigation, the release stated. In October, five Edison police officers were indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges including official misconduct, participating in a pattern of official misconduct. The officers charged in the 11-count indictment are Sgt. Ioannis (John) Mpletsakis, Patrolman Paul Pappas, Patrolman James Panagoulakos, all of Edison; Patrolman Gregory Makras, of Cranford, and Sgt. Brian Rossmeyer, of Bedminister.

Police officers in Mountainside retired after they were implicated in an alleged sex toy scandal. After five police officers and one borough employee filed a lawsuit claiming they had experienced a hostile work environment with sexual connotations at the hands of fellow officers, the borough announced that Lt. Thomas Murphy would be suspended without pay and Chief Allan Attanasio and Det. Sgt. Andrew Huber have submitted their retirement papers. Attanasio and Huber were removed from the borough's payroll on July 20. An off-duty Sayreville police sergeant is facing criminal charges in an alleged DWI accident that occurred in Old Bridge in December. Jeffrey Kutz, 57, of Marlboro, is charged with DWI and third-degree assault by auto, according to prosecutors.

Room and board: If you are not interested in moving into one of the new apartment buildings planned for Central Jersey, you can make plans for an extended stay in one of the hotels being built. For years, business advocates have said there were not enough hotel rooms in Central Jersey to serve business people. That will be ending soon.

Two new hotels have been approved on Route 22 in Bridgewater with another two proposed just off the highway and a third for the Center of Excellence on Routes 202-206 in the township. A TownePlace hotel in Branchburg opened on Route 202 earlier this month while another hotel is under construction in the Somerset Corporate Park opposite the Bridgewater Commons. New hotels are also proposed for downtown New Brunswick, in Piscataway just off Route 287 and East Brunswick.

Commercial construction also saw an uptick in 2018. Whole Foods opened in the new Chimney Rock Crossing on Route 22 in Bridgewater along with Saks Off 5th, Nordstrom Rack, Talbots, Cost Plus World Market, Ulta, The Habit Burger Grill, Blaze Pizza, Chipotle Mexican, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Spavia, Verizon Wireless, European Wax Center, TD Bank, Tempur-Pedic and the Container Store. Plans were approved for a While Foods and LL Bean in Montgomery. Bridgewater has approved an unnamed "specialty grocery store" for the Bridgewater Promenade in place of Golfsmith. In Bridgewater new furniture stores are also planned for Route 22 and the Promenade and a Shop-Rite is proposed for the Center of Excellence.

In Watchung, Sears, facing extinction, on Route 22 was demolished to make way for a new shopping center while its tire center across the street is being replaced by a cinema.

Perhaps the biggest news in the commercial real estate market was the purchase of Merck's former corporate headquarters in Readington by UNICOM, an international IT firm headquartered in California.

Like the rest of the country, casual restaurants are facing uncertain futures in Central Jersey. Ruby Tuesday closed in Bridgewater by Wegmans and TGI Fridays on the Flemington Circle served its last call.

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